May 22, 2009

Markell Signs Bills Into Law That Improve Public Safety

DOVER – Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation into law Friday that will protect children and victims of domestic violence.

Senate Bill 32 makes the abandonment of a child 14 years of age and younger a class E felony and abandonment of a child older than 14 years of age a class F felony.  Senate Bill 33 expands the definition of a domestic violence witness to include the phrase “by sight or sound” when determining whether a child was a witness to an act of domestic violence.

“Both of these bills will make Delawareans safer and I am proud to sign them into law,” Markell said.

Patricia Dailey Lewis, Director of the Attorney General’s Family Division, applauded Markell for signing Senate Bill 33 and Senate Bill 32 into law, as well as members of the General Assembly for their overwhelming support of the legislation.  “These laws protect children who cannot otherwise protect themselves.  The new broader definition of a domestic violence witness recognizes that children are victims, whether they see domestic violence or hear it while hiding under the bed or crouching in the closet.  Delaware’s stronger child abandonment law now holds parents who abandon their children criminally responsible.”

Said Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, who was the lead sponsor of bills: “While we all hope that people won’t abandon their children, signing Senate Bill 32 into law sends a strong message that abandoning your child is a serious crime – one that we will not tolerate in Delaware,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senate Majority Whip Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere. “Senate Bill 33 represents an important step forward in our ability to help victims of domestic violence down the path toward getting their lives back. In the past, to qualify for counseling and other victim’s services, a child actually had to be an eyewitness to domestic violence. This common sense change allows us to help a child who may have been scared to death, hiding in the next room, who overheard things no child should ever have heard.”

“Our criminal laws exist in large part to protect those who are most vulnerable – in this case, children,” said Rep. Melanie George Marshall, D-Bear, who is the lead House sponsor for both bills. “Child abandonment at any age is a significant matter and the old laws did not reflect the severity of the situation. We must treat this as a serious crime, and with the new statute that Governor Markell has signed, we have. The emotional impact of domestic violence goes beyond simply being able to see the act take place. Children often hear domestic violence before they see it, if they ever see it. The emotional scars that the sound of domestic violence leave are very real.”